


The Stolen Colors of Oz

by Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling)



Category: Oz - L. Frank Baum
Genre: Adventure, Colors, Gen, Giant Spiders, Misunderstandings, Negotiations, Whimsy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-21 19:20:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17049086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edenfalling/pseuds/Elizabeth%20Culmer
Summary: The chief difficulty with having lost his Magic Umbrella, Button-Bright reflected a few days after his arrival in the Emerald City with Trot and Cap'n Bill, was that it was harder to get to far-away places without it. On the other hand, having to travel through all the in-between places on his way from here to there did mean he got to see a lot of interesting things he might otherwise have missed.





	The Stolen Colors of Oz

**Author's Note:**

  * For [moon_custafer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/moon_custafer/gifts).



> Happy Yuletide! I'm not sure if this story is entirely what you were looking for, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. :)

**1\. Button-Bright Gets Lost**

The chief difficulty with having lost his Magic Umbrella, Button-Bright reflected a few days after his arrival in the Emerald City with Trot and Cap'n Bill, was that it was harder to get to far-away places without it. On the other hand, having to travel through all the in-between places on his way from here to there did mean he got to see a lot of interesting things he might otherwise have missed.

For instance, if he had been able to travel directly to Nick Chopper's castle to see if it really was made all out of tin, he wouldn't have had to walk. If he hadn't needed to walk, he wouldn't have had to turn south to look for a way to cross the Winkie River. If he hadn't had to turn south along the river, he never would have fallen down a hole into a narrow mineshaft. If he hadn't fallen into the mineshaft, he wouldn't have followed it to a vast, underground cave that was one of the most beautiful places he'd ever seen.

The cave was vaulted like a cathedral, with a high, arching roof that gleamed with faceted jewels in every color of the rainbow, each seeming to shine with an inner light. Great spikes of multicolored crystal hung down from the ceiling like glittering chandeliers, almost touching the streams of rainbow-colored water that wound along the cavern floor like braids until they joined at the base of an oddly bare rock wall, making a deep pool that practically begged people to dive in and swim.

And beyond that, there were the spiders. You might think they would spoil the beauty, but these spiders were the size of ponies and made of gleaming silver, gold, and bronze. Their silk webs shone like glass and wove between the crystal spikes like lace, or the wires of a harp. When any strand was plucked, it made a sound like harp strings, and when the webbing rubbed against the spikes the stones sang like the sweetest, saddest chorus anyone ever heard.

To miss all that would have been a shame, Button-Bright thought, because he liked music a lot and it was always interesting to meet new people, however they were shaped.

Of course if he'd still had his Magic Umbrella, he also wouldn't be hanging upside-down in a sticky net of webbing while three giant spiders argued over whether to eat him, and if so, what method of cooking to use, but his mother always said there was no use crying over spilt milk and Button-Bright supposed crying over being tied up by giant spiders was prob'ly more or less the same thing.

But it was tiresome listening to people arguing over how to cook him, so he wriggled around in the webbing until he was upright and kicked his left foot against a ruby stalactite until it sang out like his grandmother's best glassware. All three spiders stopped to stare at him with eight eyes each.

"'Scuse me, but if it's all the same to you, I'd rather not be eaten," Button-Bright said.

The largest spider, who was made of bronze, took a few steps toward him and raised her fuzzy mouthparts in something that looked a bit like a human raising an eyebrow. "But then why did you come to the Cave of Courtship without a gift?" she said in a puzzled tone. "No spider would ever do such a thing unless he wanted to be eaten for the good of the eggs."

Button-Bright blinked. "Well, maybe that's how spiders do things, but I'm a human boy, and anyhow, I didn't come here on purpose. I just got lost. But your cave is awfully pretty."

"It is, isn't it?" said the smallest spider, who was made of gold and still half again as large as Button-Bright himself. "That's why it's the Cave of Courtship, you know. It wouldn't do to use an _ugly_ cave for anything so important."

Button-Bright wasn't at all certain what the spider was talking about, but he nodded agreeably. "That makes sense."

"You are a clever boy," said the middle spider, who was made of silver and had a lovely pattern of tarnished spirals across her back. "It would be a shame to eat someone so polite, especially if you didn't come here intentionally."

Button-Bright nodded again. "I promise I didn't. I fell down a hole into a mineshaft and crawled along until I saw some light, which turned out to be your cave."

The three spiders exchanged several dozen glances. "A mineshaft?" the bronze spider asked. "Did it look old or new?"

Button-Bright considered for a moment. He didn't know much about mining, but there had been a lamp partway along the tunnel, and what looked like half a sandwich somebody had left in a hurry. He hadn't taken the sandwich because he wasn't hungry, but he'd noticed that it didn't seem moldy.

He told all this to the three spiders. The gold one hissed, the bronze one clicked her toes angrily against the jeweled floor of the cave, and the silver one said, "The egg-smashers are trying to break in again! We must summon the council and prepare for war."

"All right, but can you cut me down first?" said Button-Bright.

"You have done us a great service by bringing us this warning," said the silver spider with the tarnished spirals. "We will not only let you go, we will grant you one favor to be repaid whenever you are in great need. We are the three Queens of the Metal Spiders, and our word is law among our people. Tell us your name so we may know who to thank." 

"Thank you very much, your Highnesses," Button-Bright said as the gold spider cut through the sticky webbing with two sets of her pincer toes and the bronze spider peeled it off his clothes in ragged swatches. "I'm called Button-Bright, and I hope you don't mind if I leave now. I've seen some wars, and they weren't much fun."

"Very true," said the gold spider. "But beware as you travel, Button-Bright! You might run into the egg-smashers, and that wouldn't be much fun either."

"I'll be careful," Button-Bright said. He picked up his cap, drank a handful of rainbow water, and set off toward the mineshaft, whistling as he went. He couldn't climb back out of the hole he'd fallen down, but it occurred to him that tunnels had two ends, and he didn't think any people who ate bacon and tomato sandwiches could be entirely wicked.

It would be nice to have his Magic Umbrella, just in case the miners did turn out to be _mostly_ wicked, but he was sure things would work out nonetheless.

\---------------

**2\. The Country That Lost Its Colors**

It is difficult to get lost in a tunnel that has only two openings (aside from the hole in the ceiling), and in due time Button-Bright found himself at the far end of the mineshaft, blinking at the early morning sun. He had spent the whole night underground without noticing, but suddenly he was very tired and very hungry.

"I should have taken the sandwich after all," he said to himself.

"Stealing other people's food is a grave crime!" said a thin, angry voice from behind a nearby bush. "So is associating with the spiders, and I see you must be their friend because you have come from the Cave of Colors but you have no webs entangling you."

"I never heard that being friends with people was a crime," said Button-Bright, "and the spiders were nice once we got to talking. I bet we could be friends too if you come out and we say hello."

The bush rustled, and after a moment out stepped a young woman who looked very strange indeed. She was very thin, like her body was made of twigs, and her hair stood straight up like the tip of a paintbrush. But even stranger was that she had no color at all -- not her body, her hair, or her clothes. She looked like the sketch of a painting before the artist has filled it in.

"My name is Killikikup of the Farbers," she said, shaking a wooden sword shaped like a palette knife, "and it's my duty to make sure the spiders don't follow us back to our village and steal even more of our colors."

"How can someone steal colors?" Button-Bright asked.

Killikikup scowled. "By blocking the stream that flows from the Cave of Colors. The rainbow water brings colors to everything in this country, and we Farbers make sure it gets spread where it needs to go. We water the plants so they stay green, and dye and paint the earth and animals all their proper colors. The only thing we can't do is paint the sky, so here it's always gray and the sun is white instead of yellow. But since the spiders came, we can't do our job and everything is losing its color."

Button-Bright looked around more closely, and he noticed that Killikikup was right. The sky was pale gray, the sun was stark white, and all the colors of the forest were faded like an old photograph or a quilt that's been left too long in the sun. The birds still sang, but all their songs were dreary, and the leaves were starting to wilt for lack of both water and color.

"That's not good," he agreed. "But how do you know the spiders blocked the stream on purpose?"

"They must have!" said Killikikup, shaking her palette knife again. "One day there was a great rockslide, and when we managed to clear a path back into the Cave of Colors, it was full of spiders. They tied us up and threw us out, and blocked the Cave again. Nobody would do that by accident."

"I see," said Button-Bright. "Well, I didn't know all that before, so I guess I'm sorry for telling the Spider Queens about your tunnel."

Killikikup gasped. "You told them about the tunnel? That's an even worse crime! You have to come with me to Farberville and face the judgement of the Council for treason."

"I don't see how it's treason when I'm not part of your country, and anyhow both you and the spiders are subjects of Princess Ozma," Button-Bright said.

"That's for the Council to decide," said Killikikup, and poked him with the tip of her wooden palette knife. "Now march!"

Button-Bright shrugged and let her lead him into the faded, sepia forest. If nothing else, he might be able to get some breakfast while the Council figured things out.

\---------------

**3\. The Farbers' Council**

Farberville was a small, tidy village of perhaps three dozen houses, set on either side of a dry streambed. Seven channels led from the empty stream to seven empty pools, each of which was surrounded by stacks of empty buckets and racks of giant paintbrushes. Killikikup prodded Button-Bright through the streets, across a lovely (but colorless) stone bridge, and into the central square, where she rang a large brass bell.

Immediately a swarm of colorless people poured out of the houses, each just as skinny and brush-haired as Killikikup. "What's all this? What's going on?" they asked.

"This boy came from the Cave of Colors, and says he told the spiders about our secret tunnel," Killikikup said. "I brought him here to face the Council."

"He told the spiders about the tunnel? Treason! Down with the traitor!" shouted the Farbers, until an old man and an old woman pushed their way through the crowd.

"Hush, you!" said the old woman.

"Killikikup brought this boy here to face the Council, and we'll oblige," said the old man. Then he turned and walked toward a house that looked just like all the others. The old woman and Killikikup followed, bringing Button-Bright with them.

Inside the house was a kitchen with an iron stove and a plain square table, both faded nearly to gray. The old man and old woman sat at the east and west sides of the table, and Killikikup sat at the north side.

"Do I get to sit?" Button-Bright asked.

"Yes," said the old woman. "We're civilized people. Even traitors deserve courtesy and the benefit of law."

So Button-Bright pulled out the chair on the south side of the table and sat down. "May I have something to eat while you judge me?" he asked.

"Of course!" said the old man. "Let me make you some breakfast." He rose from his chair and moved over to the stove, where he began boiling water for coffee, and frying up some nearly colorless toast and sausages.

Meanwhile, the old woman pulled out three hats from a drawer under the table, very tall and pointed in order to fit over the Farbers' paintbrush hair. The hats were just as faded and sepia-toned as everything else in the village, but someone had tried to counter that by writing on them with a black pen. One hat said RED, another YELLOW, and the third BLUE. The old woman placed the yellow hat on her own head, handed the red hat to Killikikup, and set the blue hat at the old man's place.

"Now we can begin," she said.

"Are you on the Council?" Button-Bright asked Killikikup in surprise. She nodded, and he continued, "Then why couldn't you just decide by yourself?"

"Because no Farber can make a choice for all the others," said the old woman. "We all take turns on the Council so nobody can get used to power and become an evil ruler. This month the members are Killikikup, who you know, Agarafef, who is cooking you breakfast, and myself, Marinarap."

"Pleased to meet you," said Button-Bright. "I'm called Button-Bright."

"An excellent name," said Agarafef as he set a cup of coffee and a plate of toast and sausages on the table, along with a small palette knife and a fork that looked like a paintbrush with separated bristles. He placed the blue hat on his head and sat down. "But although we are happy to make your acquaintance, we're not happy to hear that you've revealed our secret tunnel to the spiders. You see, when Queen Lurline made Oz into a fairy kingdom, she created the rainbow water and gave the Farbers the duty of spreading color to this country, which had none of its own. Therefore anyone who interferes with our work commits treason."

"A grave crime!" added Killikikup.

"Yes, very grave," agreed Marinarap. "Now the spiders know of our tunnel. The ambush we planned will be a battle instead, and many people may be hurt."

Button-Bright finished chewing his colorless toast while he thought about this. Then he said, "I didn't know how colors work in this country, since it was already evening when I fell into your tunnel. I bet the spiders don't know either, since they live underground and there are still colors in their caves. They didn't say anything about keeping the colors for themselves. They think you attacked them for no reason and maybe smashed up some of their eggs by accident."

"It doesn't matter what they know or don't know. What matters is what they've done," said Killikikup, "just like what matters in your case is what you told them. A crime must have a consequence!"

"How about an apology? That's a consequence," said Button-Bright. "I'm sorry for messing up your ambush. I don't want you or the spiders to get hurt."

"That's not enough," Killikikup protested.

Marinarap frowned. "I agree that an apology doesn't feel like enough to balance Button-Bright's crime, but the Council has never had to deal with treason before, just like we've never had to fight a war. We don't have any precedent for what to do with traitors."

Button-Bright looked up from cutting his colorless sausages and said, "What if I go talk to the spiders again and explain about the colors? They'd prob'ly listen to me more than you, and then maybe you won't need to have a war at all."

"That's just treason a second time!" said Killikikup, but Agarafef and Marinarap both thought it was worth trying. Killikikup scowled. Then she said, "Fine. We'll send him to talk to the spiders. But I'll come too, to keep an eye on him, and I'll bring three of our soldiers to help."

Marinarap and Agarafef agreed with this, too, and so very shortly Button-Bright found himself surrounded by four Farbers with palette knife swords, paintbrush spears, and shields made out of buckets sliced in half.

"Can't we wait until I've had a nap?" he asked.

"No!" said Killikikup, and she prodded him back through the faded forest to the secret tunnel.

\---------------

**4\. In the Cave of Colors**

The secret mineshaft was just as long, narrow, and dark as before, and Button-Bright tripped several times as he, Killikikup, and the Farber soldiers marched along its path. Eventually the glimmering rainbow light of the Cave of Colors began to show around a final bend, and Killikikup halted the little group to issue orders.

"You go first," she told Button-Bright. "If the spiders capture you, we will rush out and counter-attack to save you. But if you betray us, we will treat you as an enemy."

"It seems unfair to treat somebody as an enemy when they might not mean to be one," Button-Bright observed, but he just smiled when Killikikup shot him a suspicious look. Then he checked that his jacket was buttoned and his shoes were tightly laced, and walked around the bend into the Cave of Colors.

It was just as beautiful and bright as he remembered, only this time there were many more spiders. The three Spider Queens had gathered their people and now an army of nearly fifty large, metal spiders lay in wait around the secret tunnel's entrance, clinging to the jeweled stalactites that hung down from the ceiling.

"Hello! I came back to ask a question!" Button-Bright called as he walked forward.

The three Spider Queens dropped down and hurried to meet him. "Why have you returned, Button-Bright?" asked the silver Spider Queen. "Don't you remember there's going to be a war? The egg-smashers will surely march down their tunnel any hour now and you could be caught in the middle."

"Yes, I know. But I think this whole war is a mistake," Button-Bright said. "I talked to the Farbers and they said--"

"Talked to whom?" asked the bronze Spider Queen.

"The people who made the tunnel. They're called the Farbers," said Button-Bright, "and they use the water from this cave to spread colors to all--"

"You talked to the egg-smashers! How could you, Button-Bright? We trusted you!" said the gold Spider Queen. She waved three of her legs and a soldier spider rushed up and wrapped Button-Bright in thick, sticky webbing until he couldn't move anything except his mouth and eyes.

"Charge!" shouted Killikikup, and the four Farbers ran out of the tunnel with their paintbrush spears aimed directly at the Spider Queens.

The Farbers were brave and determined, but they were badly outnumbered by the spiders and in a trice all four were wrapped up and dangling from the jeweled stalactites beside Button-Bright. Their wrapping was even more thorough, and the spiders covered everything except their noses.

Button-Bright tried his best to send the Spider Queens a disappointed look, though it was tricky when he was hanging upside-down and spinning slowly in circles. "This is exactly what I was trying to stop," he said. "Both you and the Farbers need to stop getting worked up about what you _think_ the other is like and actually start talking so you get to understand where things went wrong."

"Things went wrong when these strangers broke into our new home and started a landslide that nearly smashed our eggs," said the silver Spider Queen. "What more is there to know?"

"Lots of things," said Button-Bright. "First of all, this cave didn't used to be sealed off, so the Farbers were just trying to unseal it, not to attack you. I bet they didn't even know you'd moved in. Second, the Farbers need the stream from this cave to bring color to the country all around here. And third, wouldn't it be better to find a way to share the cave and the rainbow water instead of going to war?"

"Mmmmfff!" said Killikikup from behind the webbing that bound her.

Both Button-Bright and the three Spider Queens paid no attention to her protest.

"What kind of country doesn't have colors of its own?" asked the bronze Spider Queen.

Button-Bright shrugged. "I don't know how or why, but that's just the way it is. I figure Oz is a magic country and it doesn't need to make much sense. You can always go down the tunnel and see what it's like for yourselves."

"That's very true," said the gold Spider Queen. "But we won't untie the egg-smashers. They did invade our cave with nasty pointed spears and swords."

"That's fair," said Button-Bright, and then held very still while the soldier spiders cut him down and peeled off the sticky webbing.

The three Spider Queens led their army along the Farbers' secret tunnel in single file. Four spider soldiers carried Killikikup and the three Farber soldiers, and the bronze Queen let Button-Bright ride on her back. After a while they came to the mouth of the tunnel and looked out at the faded, sepia-toned forest with its sad birds and wilting leaves.

"Oh," said the gold Spider Queen. "That doesn't look right."

"Not right at all," agreed the silver Spider Queen.

"I'm sure this country was brighter when we sailed over it in our silk balloons," said the bronze Spider Queen. "Maybe you're right about the stream."

"I told you they'd listen," Button-Bright said to Killikikup.

"Nnnnrrrrp!" she said through the muffling web.

Button-Bright decided that she needed to be able to talk in order to properly stop the war. So he pulled out his pocket knife and cut away the webbing from her face.

"Of course we're right about the stream!" Killikikup said loudly. "But saying we're right won't help unless the spider agree to unblock the Cave of Colors so the water can flow out the way it used to."

"Open the Cave of Courtship so anyone could wander in?" the gold Spider Queen said in a scandalized tone. "Why would we do that?"

"To stop the war," Button-Bright said patiently. "Also, I bet the Farbers would be willing to help guard the cave once it's open. Right, Killikikup?"

"That's for the Council to decide," Killikikup said crossly. "I can't say anything on my own."

"Then let's set up a meeting between the Council and the Queens," said Button-Bright, "to get this all worked out."

\---------------

**5\. Button-Bright Uses His Favor**

The spiders untied one of the Farber soldiers and sent him back to Farberville to fetch Marinarap and Aagarafef. The two Council members returned within an hour, carrying the three tall, pointed hats and followed by two dozen soldiers with paintbrush spears and palette knife swords.

"We're here to negotiate a treaty," said Marinarap, "but we need our third member untied."

"That's fair," said the silver Spider Queen, and so Killikikup was cut free from the webbing. She put on the hat labeled RED, and sat down on a fallen, faded log with her fellow Council members to face the Spider Queens.

"It seems to me that we should each start with an apology," said Agarafef as he adjusted his pointed hat to a more formal angle. "We're sorry for almost smashing your eggs when we tried to reopen the cave. We didn't know you had moved in."

"Thank you. We're sorry for blocking up your stream again when we repaired the wall," said the bronze Spider Queen. "We didn't know it was important."

"Thank you," said Marinarap.

Then both the spiders and the Farbers stared at each other as if they weren't sure what to say next.

Button-Bright sighed and wondered why grown-ups always had to make things more complicated than they needed to be. "Now you open the cave back up so the stream can get out, and make sure you put guards at the opening so the spiders' eggs are safe," he said.

"We know," said Marinarap, "but it's not as simple as you make it sound."

"Definitely not that simple," agreed the gold Spider Queen.

Button-Bright sighed again. "Well, I'm going to take a nap. Wake me up when you're done being silly." And he curled up on the faded, grayish grass with his jacket under his head and went to sleep.

When he woke up several hours later, it was midafternoon and somebody had carried him away from the tunnel mouth to the dry streambed, right where it ran into a wall of fallen rocks. The spiders and the Farbers were working together to dig a hole through the rockslide. Meanwhile, the Council and the Queens were sitting on either side of him, talking like old friends.

"We came here by air, of course," said the gold Spider Queen. "When my sisters and I were grown and ready to seek our own country, we made balloons of silk and flew away until we found a set of caves that looked like a good home."

"Can you weave balloons for other purposes?" asked Agarafef.

"Oh, certainly," said the silver Spider Queen. "Why do you ask?"

"Because we have never been able to reach the sky and the sun," said Killikikup, "but if we could fly in silk balloons, we might finally be able to paint them blue and yellow."

"I see," said the bronze Spider Queen. "And do you paint living creatures as well as rocks and trees?"

"Oh, certainly," said Marinarap. "Why do you ask?"

"Because we have always treasured patterns that distinguish one spider from another," said the gold Spider Queen, "but only a few of us have such patterns naturally. If you were willing to paint us, we might finally be able to let each spider be truly unique."

"I see," said Agarafef.

Button-Bright must have made a noise at that point, because suddenly all six of them turned to look down at him. "Hello," he said. "Can I have some lunch?"

"Oh, certainly!" said Killikikup, and handed him a bacon and tomato sandwich, along with a glass of lemonade. "That's the least we owe you, for stopping our war and helping the Farbers and the Metal Spiders to become friends. In fact, the Council has voted to grant you a favor."

"That's awfully nice of you," said Button-Bright, "but I don't need any favors just now. Once I'm done with lunch I'll prob'ly get back on my way to Nick Chopper's castle."

"The Tin Woodsman's castle is a long walk from here," said Marinarap. "If you wait another day, the stream should have water again and we can take you downriver in a boat."

"Or we can spin you a silk balloon to let you fly there directly," said the silver Spider Queen.

"Thanks but I'd rather walk," said Button-Bright. "I used to have a Magic Umbrella that let me fly anywhere I wanted, but since I lost it I've gotten to see just as many places and meet lots more people, since I can't skip over all the bits in between where I start and where I'm going. F'rinstance, if I'd still had the Umbrella, I wouldn't have met you and I'd be sorry about that."

"A flying umbrella sounds like very strong magic, the kind that most people would guard carefully," said Agarafef. "Where did you find it and how did you lose it?"

"It's been in my family for ages and ages," said Button-Bright, "and I'm not sure where I lost it, but prob'ly somewhere around the Land of Mo. I don't much mind, but I guess my father might be cross if he knew I'd lost it."

The Farbers and the spiders all blinked in surprise. "Your family doesn't know you lost your Magic Umbrella?" asked the bronze Spider Queen.

"Does your family know where you _are?_ " added Killikikup.

Button-Bright shrugged. "Not that I know. Why? Does it matter?"

The Farbers and the spiders all blinked again, and exchanged looks over Button-Bright's head. "That depends," Marinarap said eventually. "Some people get by just fine making new friends and not keeping in touch with old ones, but other people worry if they don't hear from old friends now and then, so they know their friends are safe and happy. It sounds like you're one of the first kind of person, but the second kind of person is more common. If you send a letter to let your family know where you are and how you're doing, it won't do any harm and might do a great deal of good."

Button-Bright turned this idea over in his head. It had never occurred to him that his parents might be worried that he had moved to Oz, but he supposed if they got worried when they didn't hear from him, that might explain _why_ they got cross sometimes after he came home from adventures.

"But if I write them a letter, how will I send it? They live in the city of Philadelphia in America, and America isn't a fairy country," he said.

"Oh, we can send your letter in a silk balloon and make sure it arrives safely anywhere in the world!" said the gold Spider Queen. "Would you like that to be our favor?"

"Yes, please," said Button-Bright. "And for my other favor, will you help me write the letter so my parents will be happy instead of cross?" he asked the three Farbers.

"We'll do our best," Marinarap said. "Let me get paper and pen and you tell me what you want to say."

Button-Bright took the rest of the afternoon to work on the letter with Marinarap and Agarafef's help. (Killikikup meant well, but he thought her suggestions were likely to make his parents even more cross instead of making them feel happy.) Then he folded the paper, sealed it with a blob of colorless gray wax, and handed it to the silver Spider Queen. She wrapped it in webbing and then attached the little bundle to a shimmering silk balloon, which she tossed into the air. She waved all four of her forelegs as the wind caught hold of the balloon, and it rapidly changed direction and sailed out of sight.

"Thank you very much," Button-Bright said.

"Thank you, Button-Bright," said the Spider Queens and the Farbers' Council. "Will you spend the night?" Killikikup added, sounding as if she weren't sure whether she liked or disliked the idea.

"Oh, certainly!" said Button-Bright.

In the morning, the Farbers and the spiders had broken through the rock wall and a narrow stream of rainbow water had started to refill the dry stream. Several of the Farbers were busy setting up wooden sluice gates to split the multicolored water into holding pools of one color each: red, orange, yellow, and so on down through violet. Several of the spiders were helping them.

Button-Bright walked west toward Nick Chopper's castle, whistling as he went. Behind him, a silk balloon rose into the air carrying a Farber with a paintbrush and a spider with a bucket. As Button-Bright rounded a bend in the path, the Farber reached her brush up and began to paint the sky.


End file.
